Quitting Caffeine Can Positively Impact Your Health
A friend of mine recently decided to cut down her caffeine consumption. She gets most of her caffeine from drinking 6 to 10 large glasses of tea a day. “No more iced tea for me,” she told me. Then she picked a day to go cold turkey.
When I saw her on the evening of her first and last day going cold turkey, she looked a mess. “I’ve had a headache all day and started feeling nauseous in the afternoon,” she told me as she mixed up a batch of iced tea. “I can’t take it anymore.”
Never having been a caffeine drinker, I was fascinated by the physical reaction she had to quiting. I had heard from others that caffeine was addictive, but had never before seen the results of withdrawal live and in person.
Caffeine naturally occurs in the leaves and beans of about 60 plants. It acts as a natural pesticide. This insect killing chemical acts as a stimulant in humans. 90% of adults consume caffeine daily. Humans sure love stimulants.
If your a caffeine drinker you might wonder what value there is in quitting. Why go through all the physical distress? Caffeine keeps you happy, awake and alert, right? Maybe you just love your morning coffee or you’ve convinced yourself that Red Bull really does give you wings. Before you try jumping off of any buildings in a caffeine induced high consider this. Caffeine consumption increases anxiety and makes it harder for you to get to sleep. Caffeine can also lead loose of bone density. Pregnant women who drink caffeinated beverages increase their risk of miscarriage.
To avoid the negative effects that my friend had when quitting caffeine, you should wean yourself from it slowly. Try replacing one caffeinated drink a day with something uncaffeinated. Cutting down slowly gives your body time to adjust. It’s also important to drink plenty of water.
If you’re feeling tired, you should probably get more sleep. It seems like an overly simplistic solution but it’s true. Cutting back on sleep and drinking caffeine to squeeze everything into your day will just negatively affect your health in the long run.
Photo by Chris Owens
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Well, I have to wholeheartedly agree with you/your friend that, from personal experience, going off coffee slowly is the only way to go to avoid the headaches, unless….
… you can be ‘helped’ by any ordinary household flu. From my experience, when sick I usually don’t feel like caffeine. I will sleep a lot plus drink loads of water knowing that that helps to get well. Don’t turn back to coffee/tea when you’re recovered from your cold. Instead, find another ‘treat’.
[…] presents Quitting Caffeine Can Positively Impact Your Health posted at The Art of Balanced […]
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